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Rainbow - Down To Earth:
Deluxe Edition

Everything but the pot of gold

Despite its fame and impressive
sales, Down To Earth is perhaps the most
divisive record
in Rainbow’s
catalogue.
Ritchie
Blackmore’s
single-minded pursuit of
mainstream success paid off
commercially, but the
replacement of Ronnie James
Dio with the controversially (at
the time) short-haired Graham
Bonnet – an interesting parallel
with David Coverdale’s replacing
of Ian Gillan in Deep Purple a
few years earlier – marked a
significant move away from the
band’s preoccupation with
fantasy imagery and themes.

The album is a strong one
though. The likes of All Night
Long, Lost In Hollywood and, of
course, Since You’ve Been Gone
will always have a place on
classic rock radio. The bonus
disc is at times fascinating but
definitely has a narrower appeal
– mainly to obsessive Rainbow
fans. Two B-sides from the
singles appear on Disc One, so
the second disc mainly consists
of instrumental outtakes or
different recordings of album
tracks – very interesting for the
light they cast on the album’s
genesis, but hardly essential.
The Cozy Powell mix of All Night
Long (louder drums) completes
a set that’s for aficionados only.

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